With devastating first half, Baylor crushes Saint Mary's, 72-49

Mark J. Rebilas/US PresswireThe Bears swarmed the Gaels on Friday night, and effectively ended the game early. HOUSTON -- LaceDarius Dunn, Tweety Carter and Baylor had all the fun Friday night, ending what had been an entertaining NCAA tournament ride for Omar Samhan and surprising Saint Mary's.

Dunn and Carter both made 3-pointers on their first shots and later combined for a highlight alley-oop dunk as Baylor rushed to a huge lead and romped 72-49 in the South Regional semifinals.

The third-seeded Bears (28-7) led 46-17 at halftime and could begin looking ahead to Sunday, when they will play for a chance at their first Final Four since 1950, when there were only eight teams in the field.

More impressive for Baylor, it is another inspiring step in redemption nearly seven years after coach Scott Drew took over a program reeling and recovering from a murder and scandal that shook the world's largest Baptist university like nothing in its history.

Drew had to rebuild with reduced scholarships, a roster decimated when the top three scorers were allowed to transfer and an unprecedented half-season after the NCAA considered shutting the program down a whole year.

Dunn and Carter, two top Louisiana high school players who were recruited by other established programs, still came to Baylor. And now they have helped get the Bears, who were picked 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll by the league's coaches, be one of only eight teams still with a chance to win the national title.

"That's the reason why we came here. To be a part of something special," Carter said. "It really means a lot to me, this team, this program, for us to come through all the adversity."

Dunn scored 23 points with four 3-pointers and Carter added 14 points for Baylor. Dunn turned away with a wide smile after the teammates combined on their big dunk.

Samhan, who had become a breakout star in the tournament with his dominating play in the first two rounds and the one-liners when talking or tweeting, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels (28-6). He had only made only 1-of-8 shots and had only three points at halftime.

With Samhan held in check, the tiny school from Moraga, Calif., that beat Villanova and Richmond earlier in the tournament was headed home.

"Bottom line, when it was all said and done, I was proud of what we did this year," coach Randy Bennett said. "I told them they we stunk tonight. ... Nobody wanted it to go that way but it went that way."

During the interview sessions the day before the game, Samhan stopped and waved to everyone when he stepped onto the stage. There was the often-comedic interaction with two of his teammates during the 15-minute session and the 6-foot-11 center made sure the television cameras were aimed on him at one point before professing his love to singer Taylor Swift.

Dunn, Carter and Baylor post player Ekpe Udoh, meanwhile, rarely smiled while answering questions directly. They were already to play, expecting to continue this "business trip" not far from home — a 3½-hour drive from their Waco campus.

Carter hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key on his first shot, then Dunn hit one on the next Baylor possession.

Even when things didn't go exactly as planned, the Bears were still were making things happen.

When an earlier ally-oop attempt from Carter was off-target, Dunn grabbed the ball out of the air, took a couple of steps along the baseline, then turned and hit a short jumper. That was part of a 9-0 run that put the Bears in control early.

The highlight ally-oop came when Dunn stripped the ball from freshman Matthew Dellavedova near midcourt and took off toward the basket. Dunn passed the ball to Carter trailing on his left, and the point guard never dribbled the ball, instead tossed it toward the rim for a slam and a 29-11 lead.

Coming back down the court, Dunn turned and flashed a wide smile to the crowd — predominantly filled with fans dressed in green and gold, clearly outnumbering the one section of Saint Mary's fans near the Gaels' bench.

After their lowest-scoring half of the season, things never got better for the Gaels after halftime. Their deficit increased to 35 within a couple of minutes later.

But Samhan was still playing hard and talking. With about 6½ minutes left in the game, an official had to pull Samhan and Baylor center Josh Lomers together for a quick talk after they had been jawing at each other. On the next possession, Samhan saved the ball for Saint Mary's by swiping it back off Lomers' face.

Lomers turned away smiling. There were plenty of reasons for that reaction, considering the score.

Despite the disappointing and lopsided finish, it was an incredible run for Gaels, whose only NCAA tournament victory had come in 1959 before beating higher seeds Richmond and Villanova.

Often overshadowed in the West Coast Conference by NCAA tournament regular Gonzaga, which has won 10 conference titles in a row, Saint Mary's beat the Gonzaga 81-62 in the WCC tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid. And the Gaels did that after losing Patty Mills to the NBA and five other seniors from a 28-win team last season.